If we get a decent amount over first weekend of 'The Vaccine War', we'll sail through: Pallavi Joshi

In conversation with DH’s Riddhi Kaushik, Pallavi Joshi talks about her growth in the film industry, outlook for the future and her experience as an actor and producer in her upcoming movie, 'The Vaccine War'.

With a career spanning from television to the big screen, Pallavi Joshi is known best to deliver the most unconventional roles with a relatable simplicity and honesty. In conversation with DH’s Riddhi Kaushik, Joshi talks about her growth in the film industry, outlook for the future and her experience as an actor and producer in her upcoming movie, The Vaccine War.

Let us talk about your roots as an actor. With Alpviram, Mrignayanee, Tashkent Files, The Kashmir Files and now The Vaccine War, how is it that you always find yourself in roles that stand out?

See from the beginning, I think I have been…because there's no other word for it, I'm going to use it, feminist, but not the kind that the world thinks about feminism. For me, my values were always very important. My culture was very important. My sense of being an Indian was very important. And I always somewhere at the back of my mind knew that emancipation of women is something that should be thrown at people over and over and over again, because I have been a privileged girl growing up in a family of artists where there was no distinction between a boy and a girl. So for me, showing every facet of a woman is important. Hence, I took up Mrignayanee. It was about a tribal queen who refused to adhere to the ‘ghunghat’ system. Alpaviram again, was so ahead of its time. It was about a woman who decides to keep the baby when she doesn't even remember conceiving, and she's raped when she's in coma. When the fiance says, 'I'll give this child my name', she says, "I don't need a man to give the child his name for my child to be something in the society. He's my child. And that's more than enough". So I thought that character was very strong. And over and over again, I think I've been attracted to such characters.

However, people still don't stop coming to me with aunty roles. I still get called saying it is a great role of Karthik Aryan’s mother. The minute you say it is a ‘role’, I don't want to do it. Explain the character. I don't want to play somebody's relative unless there is some potential in it. I don't take anything and everything that comes my way. So if you see my body of work, it could have been larger. But it has quality in it and when I look back, there is an extreme sense of satisfaction of some of the best characters that have come my way. 

Are there times when you and your husband Vivek Agnihotri have disagreements over his political statements?

I think what makes our marriage work is the fact that both of us are very different from each other. And I think Vivek has all the qualities that I lack. And vice versa. Therefore, as husband and wife, I think there is no need for us to substitute each other, we kind of complement each other. Also, because we are aware of our shortcomings, I think when we see it in the other person, it feels nice and refreshing that somebody has the guts to do this, or somebody has the sensibility to do this. So looking at the broader picture, no, there have never been times when I have tried to stop him because speaking his mind out makes Vivek what he is.

But yeah there have been a lot of times where I thought in general interaction with family, relatives, he could have handled the situation a little better, used a little more tact. And he tells me sometimes that was no need for you to just flip your lid. We are as different from each other as chalk from cheese.

Nana Patekar plays an important role in The Vaccine War. I've heard a lot about the relationship (infamous) that he shares with directors. But how was it sharing screen with him? Even though this was not your first stint together as actors, you were also the producer this time. Did the change in your role affect the dynamics between the two of you?

See very honestly, Nana is not an easy person to work with. And I'm not the only one saying this, the entire film industry talks about it. That is because he is a very temperamental person. His passion for cinema is to some other level, which normal people can't comprehend. For him the smallest speck out of place rattles him very badly. Sometimes you don't even know that something is off, because it is practically impossible for any normal human being to see it. But he has that third eye through which he can see the minute details, which is a great quality to have as an artist. Now what happens because of that, once he's rattled he lets out on people. Sometimes he's not happy with the way the co-stars are acting. Sometimes he thinks that the director is an idiot who doesn't know how to take a shot. 

Fortunately, I think with our film, the tuning between Nana and Vivek was on some other level altogether. 

I was nervous when we started this. As a producer and with my husband as a director, this was my first film with him. I was always standing in the wings biting my nails. But I must tell you with a very relieved heart that there were no sparks on the sets. The shooting went on without any problems. Nana was happy with everything that was happening and the end result is yet another brilliant performance from him. 

In fact, I'll tell you what happened once on the sets. We were doing a scene and because to me, acting is of paramount importance we were doing the take and when Nana started talking I completely forgot to react. I started watching his craft wide eyed. And then he turned to me after saying his line and suddenly broke out and he said “ada tuza vakya hai bol naa”(It is your line now, say it!). Everyone kind of started laughing. He's a magician.

When women receive criticism for their work, the vocabulary is very different from what their male counterparts get. There are kidnap, death and even rape threats involved. Did you face anything similar after The Kashmir Files?

I've heard that there has been a lot of BS thrown on social media. But I am not on social media and it was a very deliberate decision a few years ago. I do have a Facebook account and an Instagram account but that is only for promotion. I don't like to become a part of that filth, if I may say. Because I have realised that a lot of abusive and filthy language has been making rounds. And even if you have managed to keep your head above your shoulders, these things still get to you. So the best thing is not to look at them at all. 

To me, what is important is the mass hysteria that The Kashmir Files created. All the cases that the government has decided to reopen. Yasin Malik and Bitta Karate getting arrested. We knew it was not going to be an easy path. With each film, we are realising how difficult it is. Maybe we hadn't quite imagined the gravity of the problems that may come our way. Whenever people ask me this question, I'm not the one to say that my life has changed so much after The Kashmir Files because I am the one who signed up for it. So I can't be cribbing about it. And I knew these things would happen.

Did the National Award for The Kashmir Files provide any sort of validation?

When an entire community is wronged, even the smallest gesture gets amplified. The fact that nobody knew about their story, and nobody was ready to make a film, for them, was a very bitter truth that they have been living with for the past 33 years. When we were approached by the Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora, we learned that they had approached several filmmakers who I do not want to name. They refused to make the movie saying that this be problematic and we won’t be able to make it. It was then that a chance meeting happened between Dr Surinder Kaul and Vivek and the rest is history. So I guess for their sake, it was rather important for the film to win a national award. When the film won the Nargis Dutt Award in the Best Feature Film in the National Integration category, I thought that was the icing on the cake, because that truly justified their struggle all these years to be heard. For their sake, I think it was a very, very important thing to happen. And I'm glad that it wasn't just the best film of the year, it also won the Nargis Dutt Award.

After the success of The Kashmir Files, was the producer in you a little scared thinking whether The Vaccine War would make a similar revenue? 

'I'm not saying that I'll be disappointed if it does as well as 'Kashmir Files' but I'm saying that there is something that you send up in the universe. I'm not sending out a Rs 350 crore message right now,' says Pallavi Joshi.

No. And I'll tell you why. The Kashmir Files was a gamble because we didn't know if that was going to work. Especially after suffering for two years in Covid, the entire world was in a state of depression. Suddenly when you come out, did people really want to see a film which was full of pain and sorrow and brutal killings? So we took a huge risk with the movie. But after the success of The Kashmir Files, we were hounded by calls from the industry asking us to make Rs 100-200 crore worth films. As great as it sounds, Vivek and I decided that we cannot take the carrot dangling in front of us, because it is not our style. What happens is that if you are making a film worth, say Rs 150 crore, then you have to make it with stars, because only that will ensure that the tickets will be sold over the first weekend. Everything becomes about commerce and that is a time when people forget cinema. We decided to keep making our small budget medium budget movies, where our cost of production is minimal. And something that we should be able to kind of break even. I'm not carrying the weight of The Kashmir Files on my head, because Kashmir Files may have been a one-time phenomenon. Every single film needn't go that path. But even if The Vaccine War does a certain amount of business, if we get a decent amount over the first weekend, I think we'll sail through. All I want from this film is exactly what I've put in so that I can make my next film. I'm not saying that I'll be disappointed if it does as well as The Kashmir Files but I'm saying that there is something that you send up in the universe. I'm not sending out a Rs 350 crore message right now. 

So what is next?

After this, Delhi Files. It will be the end of the Files trilogy. 

Let’s get a little candid now! There are some things that I am sure the readers would love to know about you. 

What is your favourite cuisine?

Bombay street food. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snacks, anything, I am always up for it..even though I should not be eating it. 

But you wish you could.

I am quite capable of doing that. My mouth starts watering at the mention of it.

What does a holiday look like for you?

Lying down on the bed with no hurry to get up. With no stress of having to get ready, having to take a shower, meet people and talk. My idea of a holiday is just lazing around. Give me a beachfront, I am not a mountains person.

When I say Never Have I Ever, what comes to your mind?

Good lord, I think I must have done everything at least once. Never Have I Ever talked back to my mother! My father I have. My mother was a very strong woman and she always made sense and I don’t know why I keep getting these people in my life. First it was my mother and now it is Vivek.

 Are you a bathroom singer or a 2 am dancer?

Oh my god, a bathroom singer. I won’t dance in front of even my pet. I am a very bad dancer.

What is the next thing planned right after this interview gets over?

I am hoping there is a holiday. I don’t even want to get out of Bombay, not even my bedroom. I just want to lie down and do nothing, just take my book, read it, watch something, some movie or do nothing, keep talking to my kids or play with my dogs but not having to get out of my bed. But I don't think it is going to be possible for some time. We are ready with our next already.